


Growing Pains

by Anonymous



Category: Camp Camp (Web Series)
Genre: Camp Camp is Max's Home, Camp Camp is also really really messed up, David is probably an old one who just never left Camp Camp, Fluff and Humor, Gen, Implied Relationships, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, M/M, Max's Parents Being Assholes (Camp Camp), Max's Sarcasm and David's Jubilance, Maxvid Secret Santa 2019, Platonic Relationships, Pseudo-Romantic Friendships, The family you choose, family and fluff, implied eldritch horror
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-25
Updated: 2019-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-10 16:48:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,432
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28370409
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: Growing pains are dumb, and growing up is hard. David’s still an idiot, and Camp Camp hasn’t changed, but maybe it’s okay to endure his fellow counselor’s sentimental bullshit every once in a while.
Relationships: David & Max (Camp Camp), David/Max (Camp Camp)
Kudos: 2
Collections: Anonymous





	Growing Pains

**Author's Note:**

> **Prompt:**
> 
> 1\. Would Prefer to Receive: SFW Gift  
> 2\. Comfortable Receiving: Anything  
> 3\. Favorite AU: Same Age or Reverse  
> 4\. Favorite Trope: Fluff, lots of fluff  
> 5\. Their Message to You: “ Love u <3<3 “

⭑✵⭑

_This sucks_ , Max thinks, as he grinds his teeth and glares out into the field. _Sucks balls and horse shit_.

It isn’t the first time he’s had these thoughts. Not even the first time that he’s had to bite back his anger and stew in his own misery. But, he’s not a little kid anymore, and he can’t just scream his bitter and jaded curses to the world at large. He’s supposed to be _grown up_ , _responsible_ — a freaking _adult_ who should have their shit _together_ by now.

(Old fucker that he is, he’s surprised David’s lasted as long as he has, bottling everything up.)

He’s not like his old camp counselor, who wears a smile on his face and locks away the hurt, going through the day with a kind of single-minded enthusiasm that makes Max wonder how he doesn’t hate it.

(Of course, David isn’t the type to hate himself, either, so it shows what Max knows, doesn’t it?)

It wouldn’t have even been that _bad_ , Max reasons, when he’s venting to Nikki and Neil later that night. Wasn’t even that big a _deal_ . They’ve all been to Camp Camp before, and he was sort of _expecting_ David to haunt the place for years to come — not that he, you know, wanted to _see_ him or anything. Because that would be _weird_.

But, Max has just turned 18, and college is looming on the horizon, and he’s got bills to pay. He needs a job, after his father finally kicked him out of that shithole he calls an apartment, and, so, he finds himself knocking on the cabin door after getting the heads-up that he’s been hired.

Now, this is still the normal part, right? Nothing ridiculous, like he thinks he remembers from that one summer he was here, with dead campers and rabid beavers and mysterious, eldritch Quartermasters that make him believe that Mr. Campbell is one fucked-up individual for hiring who he did and doing what he does, and there’s no way in _hell_ he should be allowed near kids.

But, then, he steps into the room, and he finds a whole ‘nother reason why he hates this camp.

( _So_ . _Much_.)

There’s nobody there. Nothing. Like, he can actually hear the silence in there, and it’s kind of eerie, but it mostly just pisses him off. He woke up at the ass-crack of dawn for this shit, and he hates that he actually bothered, because apparently being broke as a baby wasn’t enough of a humiliation.

He hates this place, and he hates that his parents put him here just to get rid of him, and he hates that he’d thought it one of the best places on earth.

He doesn’t have a lot of fond memories. Too old for his years, Gwen used to whisper to David, back when she’d thought he couldn’t hear and David’s overbearing excitement and passion made him want to gut him something fierce. But, he’d seen through Camp Camp’s bullshit, and though he’d believed it lacking, the first few weeks in, he thinks there was something good, buried in it.

Or, maybe it wasn’t Camp Camp, not really. Maybe it was just David — smiling, long-legged fucker with a heart of gold, who understood Max better than Max ever wanted to admit.

David, who refused to ignore him and let him run, and insisted he participate, no matter how much he complained or refused. David, who made the worst mistakes and believed in the guy that government agents occasionally showed up to arrest or strike deals with, and still made sure that the campers were safe and taken care of.

David, who saw his loneliness, and sat him down, and promised without words that he and Gwen would be willing to take him in, if he’d let them.

David, who made his heart hurt with how much he cared, and who was there for him, when no one else bothered to be.

Sure, he had Nikki, and Neil, and Nerris and Harrison and Space Kid and all the others who were forced to be a part of this sham of a camp. But, he was never really close to them, and Nikki and Neil were just kids. Kids who saw through Max’s own walls and busted them without even realizing, sure, but kids, all the same.

And, in the end, Max regretted not taking David up on his offer. Regretted it, in the way he regrets his whole life: wholly, unabashedly, and prone to putting it aside in a pool of his own bitter anger.

(Like he said, he’s no stranger to stewing in his own misery.)

But, damn, it’s dark, and he can’t help imagining the shadows stretching away from the empty desk branching out into hands, and strangling that nameless, faceless guy that was supposed to greet him and give him his assignment.

Well, maybe a guy. It could’ve been a girl, but Max doubts that. A _lot_. He can’t imagine anyone willingly putting themselves through this nonsense — well, besides Gwen, but she chose a shit major, didn’t she?

And, ugh, now he remembers why he even came here, to begin with. _Bills to pay, colleges to apply to_ …

He sighs, looks up to the window from which the sun filters through and only lights that one spot on the floor that he’s been glaring at for the past fifteen minutes, and then turns around, because, no. He’s not going to deal with this.

And, promptly, smacks into someone else as a result.

“Hey!” he shouts, venom at the tip of his tongue, unable to hold it in anymore, “What do you think you’re _doing_ , you — ”

“Oh, Max! Sorry, I didn’t see you there!”

Max’s words stutter to halt, dying out as he stares, with wide eyes, at the guy he was expecting to find, but, also, _wasn’t_.

(Well, not _really_ , at least.)

He opens and closes his mouth, gaping like a fish out of water, but David grins even wider, and there’s this soft look in his eyes that’s growing fonder the longer he looks at Max, and —

“Tch. What the hell, David? You’re _still_ here?! It’s been, what, six fucking years?”

“ _Language_ , Max!” David exclaims, and it’s the same, over-the-top, full-body shock and offense that breaks the tension. Max smirks, and the shoulders he hadn’t felt bunching up loosen, as David catches himself, blinks once, twice, and then chuckles.

Max shrugs, and David’s eyes find Max’s again. “Sorry, sorry,” he apologizes. As if _that’s_ anything new. The bit where he ruffles Max’s hair is something he’s been trying to get David to quit, ever since he first met him, though, so when David’s hand finds itself tangled in Max’s curls, Max growls in warning, a customary, half-hearted glare thrown back David’s way in response. “Old habits die hard, you know?”

“Bullshit. You’re, like, fifty.”

David’s jolt is totally worth the insult, Max thinks.

“ _What_ ?! I’ll have you know, I’m not a day over _thirty_!”

Max grins even wider, all bared teeth and mischief. “Sure, sure. Whatever you say, you long-legged fucker.” He puts a middle finger up for good measure, then looks down and thinks better of it.

Instead, he shoves two in David’s face, and watches him squint, nearly going cross-eyed as he lightly pushes the hands away. David’s used to Max’s rude, crude nastiness, though; hasn’t really stopped, considering that Max tried to get in touch, every once in a while.

… At least once in a blue moon, okay? And, by freaking _letters_ , like they’re living in the Medieval Ages or some shit. Because David was an idiot, and he thought letters were a good way to ‘send good spirits’ his way.

(There’s no porn in letters, though; Max would know. It sucks way more than sending emails and dumb attachments David’s way, but he’ll take what he can get.)

“But…,” David’s soft voice interrupts Max’s musings, “It’s good to see you again, Max.”

Max snorts. “Yeah, yeah, I missed you, too.”

And, then, because Max isn’t cut out for this sort of baring of his emotions, he puts a palm on David’s chest, and shoves him out the cabin, watching him stumble onto the soft earth and scramble to stand. He jumps over David’s body — because he _deserves_ it, clearly — and calls out, “Now, cut the sentimental bullshit, and tell me what I’m supposed to do in this shitshow of a job.”

“Well…”

“If you list all the things you did when I was still a camper, I’m going to murder you in your sleep.”

“M-Max!”

⭑✵⭑

**Author's Note:**

> Mixed in a bit of that same age idea / reverse idea by having Max and David become co-workers years after Max's first stint at Camp Camp. Hope you like it! :D


End file.
